Running For: Alumni Council

Sim Blaustein, ME’99

Campaign Statement

Since returning to NYC in 2008, I have been an active alumnus, participating in numerous mentoring and on-campus events, serving as a judge and guest lecturer for several classes, and serving on the CUAA at a couple of intervals. Currently as a member of the CUAA, I volunteer as an alumni-faculty liaison for the engineering school, attending regular faculty meetings to help the alumni community stay abreast of the current academics at Cooper.  

As 20+ year investor and operator in the technology startup world, i am passionate about connecting the Cooper community to the worlds of business, tech and entrepreneurship. As a member of CUAA alumni council, I will help foster more events for students and alumni, push for more connectivity with industries and employers, and bring the alumni community closer together. There is a tremendous opportunity also for the CUAA to be more involved in the school, especially as we push to help steer the school back to being tuition-free.

Finally, Cooper is a big part of my family. I was fortunate to meet my wife who graduated from the architecture school in 1998, and now our son is attending the Saturday Architecture program as a high school sophomore and hopes to study engineering as well.

Biography

Sim Blaustein has been a venture capital investor and technology startup operator for over 20 years, with experience in Silicon Valley and Boston before returning to his native NYC in 2008. He is currently a partner with Bertelsmann’s corporate venture fund, BDMI, where he is focused on seed and early stage investments in digital media and enterprise software.  Prior to BDMI, he co-founded High Line Venture Partners, a seed fund based in NYC and backed by IAC, where he worked on over 30 investments in eCommerce, digital media and SaaS. Prior to High Line, Sim was a Senior Director of Strategy and M&A at IAC. Prior to venture capital, he spent 4 years in the communications and networking field through several years of working and consulting for technology companies. 

Education and Honors

MBA – Entrepreneurship & Innovation – MIT Sloan Class of 2008

BS – Mechanical Engineering- The Cooper Union (Full Scholarship, Summa Cum Laude)

Stuyvesant High School, NYC, graduated Summa Cum Laude

Sim is fluent in German and Spanish, and conversant in Italian and French, having spent a cumulative 2 years studying and traveling abroad.